Part 4 (1/2)
”No, dear.”
”People make me so cross,” continued Athalie,--”and so ashamed when they ask so many questions. What is there to be surprised at if sometimes I see things _inside_ my mind. They are just as real as when I see them _outside_. They are no different.”
Her mother nodded, encouragingly.
”When papa was in New York,” went on Athalie, ”and I saw him talking to some men in a hotel there, why should it be surprising just because papa was in New York and I was here when I saw him?”
”It surprises others, dear, because they cannot see what is beyond the vision of their physical senses.”
Athalie said: ”They tease me in school because they say I can see around corners. It makes me very cross and unhappy, and I don't want anybody to know that I see what they can't see. I'm ashamed to have them know it.”
”Perhaps it is just as well you feel that way. People are odd. What they do not understand they ridicule. A dog that would not notice a horse-drawn vehicle will bark at an automobile.”
”Mamma?”
”Yes, dear.”
”Do you know that dogs, and I think cats, too, see many things that I do; and that other people do not see.”
”Why do you think so?”
”I have noticed it.... The other evening when the white cat was dozing on your bed, and I was down here on the floor, sewing, I saw--something. And the cat looked up suddenly and saw it, too.”
”Athalie!”
”She did, mamma. I knew perfectly well that she saw what I saw.”
”What was it you saw?”
”Only a young man. He walked over to the window--”
”And then?”
”I don't know, mamma. I don't know where they go. They go, that's all I know.”
”Who was he?”
”I don't know.”
”Did he look at us?”
”Yes.... He seemed to be thinking of something pleasant.”
”Did he smile?”
”He--had a pleasant look.... And once,--it was last Sunday--over by the bed I saw a little boy. He was kneeling down beside the bed. And Mr. Ledlie's dog was lying here beside me.... Don't you remember how he suddenly lifted his head and barked?”
”Yes, I remember. But you didn't tell me why at the time.”
”I didn't like to.... I never like to speak about these--people--I see.”